Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Needles: I went up a size as I wanted a larger egg cosy to fit on our big easter eggs, so used 4mm instead of the 2.75mm specified.

Notions: black wool for embroidery; toy stuffing

I must say I am completely enarmoured with this rabbit! I had originally planned on making three - one for each member of my wee family - to cover our chocolate eggs on Easter morning but remembered too late that I am supposed to be knitting two flower girl cardigans for a wedding at the beginning of May, and alas, Easter egg cosy bunnies would have to wait.

Never mind. I had more than enough fun knitting this little girl rabbit, thanks in part to the superbly written pattern. One of the things I dislike about knitting toys is the hours of tedious sewing at the end, trying to make all the oddly-shaped bitty pieces of knitted fabric come together in a coherent and well-made whole. This pattern, however, cleverly does away with that hassle by instructing you to sew pieces together as you finish them. Not only does it make the bunny come together far more quickly, but it means less ends to weave in at the end and you have a very neat finish to the toy. 10 out of 10 for pattern writing skills, I say!

Another excellent thing about this pattern is that it's a fabulous way to use of scraps of yarn. I'm not sure if your odds and ends yarn basket is anything like mine (I'd post a pic, but I'm far to embarassed about it's size) but I could well and truly do with an easy and enjoyable knit that uses up lots of ends. That way I get a cute new toy at the end, without having to justify spending any extra moolah on yarn. Bravo, recession-busting bunny!

Seriously, if you're in the market for a cute toy pattern, you really can't go wrong with this one. The pattern instructions are clear and easy to follow, you don't need much yarn, it's ideal for beginners wanting to learn some new skills (like colour changes, making stitches, increases, decreases, different stitch patterns i.e. stocking stitch and moss stitch) without being tremedously difficult. It also only takes a couple of hours from whoa to go. Now if only I could get those pesky flower girl cardigans finished, I could knit up some more bunnies.

*Clasping hands together in glee at the very thought of it!* Bunnies, bunnies, bunnies!

Tuesday, April 07, 2009

Warning! Warning! Cute overload alert! I found this gorgeous pattern for a bunny egg cosy over at Little Cotton Rabbits a few days ago and had to immediately get the pattern. It's adorable! Even though I've (typically) left it to the last minute, I'd like to knit up three of these, and have them sitting over chocolate eggs in egg cups, waiting on the kitchen table for Grumbles when she gets up on Easter morning, with a little trail of mini eggs leading from her bedroom to the bunnies. She'll be delighted!

Five days until Easter, three bunny cosies to knit. Golly gee, I'd better hop to it (groan, terrible pun!)

Friday, April 03, 2009

Melbourne has just experienced some pretty major thunderstorms - there are warnings regarding damage from hailstone and flash flooding. I, of course, had the good fortune to get caught in the first storm as I made my way home from the supermarket (on foot, bien sur!). I tried to avoid it by lurking in the video rental store for a while, but then bit the bullet and attempted the dash home.

Let's just say that bucking down would be an understatement. I was completely and utterly DRENCHED! I had to come home and strip off then towel off - even my undies were soaked! That'll teach me to ignore the weather warnings and sally forth minus the umbrella.

Thursday, April 02, 2009

If you've got 3 minutes and 16 seconds then I implore you to watch this incredible film clip by French duo Trichot Machine. The clip is done purely using stop-motion animation, but instead of drawings they've used knitting samples - 719 to be exact! C'est vraiment incroyable!